The present invention relates to an inkjet printer and a capping method, and in particular relates to an inkjet printer including a cap that can ensure a high sealing property with a small cap load and a capping method.
Capping of (a nozzle face of) a recording head in an inkjet printer has conventionally been carried out by abutting an upper end of a lip (rim), protruded along an outer edge of a cap, against the nozzle face at which an inkjet nozzle is formed, and by providing a closed space with a cap inner face and the nozzle face. After the capping for covering the nozzle face has been done using the cap, the nozzle is preserved in order to prevent the drying of the nozzle during non-recording time, and purge for the prevention of nozzle clogging is carried out by sucking out a solidified ink, minute dirt and the like from the nozzle.
As the lip provided at the cap, in addition to the lip (rim) for sealing provided at the outer edge of the cap, a partitioning lip (partitioning wall) for allowing ink to be sucked from a nozzle for each kind of ink may be provided (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-276270 (pp. 7-8, and FIGS. 3 and 4)).
The cap load, applied from the cap to the nozzle face when the nozzle face is covered by the cap, causes the deflection of the nozzle face, a head holder and the like, and brings about various adverse effects such as deformation with respect to a precision-made recording part. Therefore, it is preferable that the cap load is small. In particular, in an inkjet printer that allows A3 size paper, the number of nozzles is increased and a nozzle face of a recording head is widely formed in order to raise a recording speed. Accordingly, a large size cap is used, and as a result, the total length of a provided lip becomes large. Therefore, there arises the disadvantage that the cap load that acts upon the nozzle face is increased.